Spin Cycle

Okay, here's how the school shooting in Minnesota is going to spin...I know that sounds harsh, and I don't want to belittle the losses to those involved. But the spin cycle has started, and we need to be preppared to deal with it. This is from Brady, the lead item on their homepage:

Washington D.C. - The bloody attack on a Native American high school yesterday can't be viewed as an isolated incident. Though the motivations of the young killer are as of yet unknown, his rampage becomes another entry on a growing list of news reports on horrific gun violence and reports on the ready availability of ever-deadlier weapons.

"In recent months, we have seen horrible shooting attacks in shopping malls, office buildings, courthouses, the homes of judges, private hunting lands and it seems like every other kind of place we like to believe is safe," said Brady Campaign and Million Mom March President Michael Barnes. "And we're deluged with reports about legal guns that can shoot down airplanes, guns designed to kill police wearing body armor, and the FBI being forced to watch as terrorist suspects arm themselves with firearms."

"Our leaders are preaching about the culture of life," Barnes said. "They should spend the same amount of energy taking steps to stop our nation's culture of death."

Setting aside the undeniable fact that Sarah Brady, Michael Barnes and their ilk are ghouls, willing to sink to any level to accomplish their complete disarming of America, let's look at how this spin cycle sets up.

The specific technique they're using is one I've always heard called "stacking," or "aggregating," putting a series of unrelated events together to form what amounts to a fake trend. The key element of stacking is connecting up as many boxcars as you can and see if the engine will pull them. The engine here is "sensible gun laws," or, as we would characterize it, disarming the public. Notice how Barnes keeps attaching boxcars, including boxcars that consis solely of Brady press releases and CBS News shows, which are actually the same thing.

FWIW, the best way to address a stacking attack is to "unhook the boxcars." An earlier release, for example, called for unspecified "government action." My response would be, "Absolutely." Since in apparently two of the events — Minnesota and the Georgia courthouse shooting — the guns were taken from active or retired law enforcement officers, is Brady calling for a national ban on POLICE carrying, owning or even possessing weapons? Specifics specifics specifics specifics...in a debate I would push the other person to specifically explain to me what he or she is proposing and how that is suppose to effect the "culture of death."

I would then go on the attack, citing the ONLY proven way of stopping such shootings — arming people, expanding CCW laws.

As far as the links to Brady press releases/CBS News, I think we all know what to do there. Point out that these are press releases, not news stories. I would personally ridicule CBS "News" as the joke it is.

I actually don't this this will have any traction for Brady, because the events are individually very strange. Neo-nazis, religious whackos, a prisoner who should have been in chains...It's hard to convince even the most gullible person — with the possible exception of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, who will believe any piece of antigun bilge that Brady shovels out — that additional laws would have an effect on such people.

Still, we have to be ready to respond. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to email me.